It’s Time for a Civic Treasure to Pay Up

I don’t know how you can forgive me, but ...

This Laker dream season has been boorish, coarse, a generally unpleasant experience epitomized by the word “yuck.”

This Laker dream season has possessed the manners of a small child and the conscience of a lout.

While sitting at this town’s table, this Laker dream season has eaten with its hands and chewed with its mouth open.

Did you see Kobe Bryant’s magnificent buzzer bombs Wednesday night in the season finale in Portland?

Or had you already become so sick of all that dreamy griping and whining and slacking that you didn’t even watch the game?

Two ecstatic minutes can’t change a joyless winter.

But the next two months can.

The Laker postseason is not only about winning a ring, but restoring a bond.

An organization that has personified class deserves better from a team that has defined gauche.

It’s time the Lakers provided it.

Fans from every corner and culture of Southern California have lent their passion and pride to a team that has casually taken both for granted.

It’s time the Lakers pay up.

On one of the first days of training camp, Gary Payton was asked what would happen if this unprecedented collection of All-Stars did not win an NBA championship.

“It would be a failure, I think,” he said.

That the team has since been wracked by injuries and legal-related distractions doesn’t alter that truth.

If four Hall of Fame players plus one Hall of Fame coach doesn’t equal an NBA title in a season when there are zero dominant teams, then the Atlanta Braves and Buffalo Bills have company.

Even in a sports landscape pockmarked with flops, the underachievement would be unmatched.

“We’re feeling great!” Coach Phil Jackson said Thursday with a laugh, and here’s hoping he’s serious.

Bryant’s two last-second shots Wednesday made for nice goose bumps, but a bad first-round matchup.

The Houston Rockets will pound on the Lakers for two weeks, and who knows how much they’ll have left?

At least we’ll quickly know whether they are serious, both about winning games and making amends.

It starts with Shaquille O’Neal, who began his season by conducting contract extension negotiations on the court during an exhibition game, yelling over to owner Jerry Buss about paying him more money.

O’Neal publicly griped about a lot of things this season, about Bryant, about the referees, about the NBA’s having the nerve -- the nerve! -- to fine and suspend him for cursing during a live television interview.

What he didn’t talk much about was having the worst scoring average of his career (21.7), the worst free-throw percentage in the last seven years (49%) and the fewest assists in the last five years (196).

If he wants to again become the playoff warlord who absconded with those three Finals MVP trophies, he could begin this weekend by cutting out the silly jabber and focusing on only one word: Yao.

Then there is Bryant, the NBA’s greatest player, strangest player, most tortured soul, most selfish teammate, your pick.

The demands of his sexual assault trial surely stressed him beyond imagination. The effects on his psyche were absolutely felt by his teammates. Every bumpy road encountered by the Lakers this season somehow led back to Bryant, whose persona dominated the team from the moment he failed to show at its first fall practice.

His season began with a verbal war between him and O’Neal. It ended with a war of wills between him and most of the locker room.

The fans love him. The owner covets him. The buzzer-beating moments become him.

But the numbers were not kind to him, as he had his lowest shooting percentage since he became a starter six years ago (43.8%), his fewest rebounds in five years (359) and fewest assists in four years (330).

If Bryant indeed is going to leave the team this summer, as most believe he will, the two shots against Portland were a nice beginning to a goodbye note. He has two months to finish it.

Next up, Payton, a star who arrived here saying he so desired a championship ring, he would subjugate his game to acquire one.

Fibber.

During a February stretch in which the Lakers won six of seven games, Payton cried about not playing enough, failing to mention the times he was sent home for arguing with referees.

He has since settled down, and is the only player to start all 82 games. But now it’s time to show his attitude is for real. Is he still The Glove? He needs to continue fitting around the team.

The erratic presence of those first three guys has, unfortunately, overshadowed the quiet professionalism of Karl Malone in the locker room and Derek Fisher off the bench.

Lucky for Devean George, though, it has also overshadowed the fact that he simply hasn’t played like an $18.45-million man.

But, ah, the wonder of the NBA spring, remember? Come Saturday night, the Lakers embark on a journey that could render this nutty regular season irrelevant, right?

At the end of the road, arms crossed, feet tapping, a town waits.

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Plaschke, go to latimes.com/plaschke.